任是无情也动人

I took some time to play through the new patch and let it percolate a bit. And I can't help but notice that I keep on comparing it to the Amphoreus arc in my head. I think it's because I can't help but notice there's a contrast between the two in how the narrative was written. To wit: With the Planarcadia arc, they fixed a lot of the problems with the Amphroreus writing...but also threw a bit of the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak.

( Regarding the writing )

As for the other thing I've seen lots of people complain about online: the Voracity debuff that spreads to all combat sessions of the game. Honestly, it hasn't really impacted me much. The only time I've come across it and it impacted my play was one session (out of 3 so far) of Currency Wars, where it ended my gameplay at the 2nd stage boss. *shrug* But honest with Currency Wars, you can preview the boss fights at the very beginning, and it doesn't cost anything to just finalize and restart. So yeah, can't really empathize with this complaint.

Genshin just celebrated it's 6th anniversary, and I will also be coming up to my 1 year anni for starting this game. So I figured I should write something. I know I haven't been updating DW lately, but I originally wanted to hold back on giving my review of the current Snezhnaya story arc until it finished...ah well.

Before I get into Genshin though, I should give a quick update on the HSR side. ( HSR update )

Now, regarding Genshin, happy anniversary to the game I guess. Since it's also coming up on my 1 year mark playing the game, it's also a good time to take a look back and my experience... and payment history. -_-

( Purchases )

( Regarding the 7.0 Snezhnaya story so far )

That said, ignoring the content of the story, the presentation of the story and the maps that came with the Snez update has been great, and I am looking forward to the new map updates in 7.2. Like, it's definitely noticeable that Genshin has been reinvesting the money they made back into the game, with lots of custom NPC models that rival PC models from the start of the game (*coughDiluccough*), unique actions/poses on the models, lotsa interaction dialogue, excellent camera work on the cutscenes, lots of interesting mechanics... Well, ok that last one has a caveat: Locking two major zones behind the new shooter mode and not allowing us to bring in our purchased characters in to take pics really sucked.

The world quests are also well done in and of themselves. They told an interesting story and expanded on the lore background really well. (Though whether they add or subtract to the moral ledger of the current Snez faction... eh, again, we'll see.) The way they are presented to players is also miles and leaps ahead of the Aranara arc (which I had a dozen guides up to help manage my way around).

Finally, want to make an extra shout out to the recent Mid-Autumn Moonchase Festival event story, which has been vastly overshadowed by all the arguments over the main AQ. I don't think I have yet seen a standalone event story that Genshin has done badly. They are quite clearly well practiced at writing these. More to look forward to when CNY rolls around.

In hype of the upcoming last patch of the 6.x arc, I've been watching various videos related to the game. Today, came across a very informative content creator who makes a lot of neat videos tying elements of the game to their real life inspiration.

In one of them, in the comments section, I saw this very thought provoking conversation:

( Read more... )

I find this to be pretty much the same feeling I had, at least related to Liyue since that's the region I am most familiar with. IMO many of the historical elements that we already know about in the game can map pretty easily to the massive history of China.

( Read more... )

Anyways, with the nation of Scheznaya coming up, the signs are clear that it's going to be some variation of the USSR. Hm, and I suppose Nod-Krai is then a mirror of (modern?) Ukraine or Eastern European Soviet-bloc nations in general I guess.

There's also speculation that we will get a revival of Khaenri'ah, which makes one wonder how they're going to "remake" essentially Nazi Germany.

Did not see this coming, what with the revamp of GW1 (yes, the first one) I read about lately.

From the promo, it looks like main difference is graphics update. And timeline wise takes place another time skip into the future. EDIT: Upon further research, the timeline is actually set about 1000 years before GW1. In other words, a "prequel" series. Location will start off with Orr.



EDIT: Also, GW1 is coming out with a Mobile edition starting June 24 this year.
I know they have been adding some new content to GW1 with the new "Reforged" moniker, primarily concentrated in Pre-searing Ascalon (Prophecies). I wonder if mobile edition means more content will come to the rest of the game (esp. Factions and Nightfall).

Xover:
(FIN) 【星铁原】将军与帝君的国运之旅 -- Read most but forgot most...
+ Good MC interactions. Supporting characters are meh. Settings are so so.
(FIN) 星穹铁道：不朽的岩王爷 (aka 崩铁：摩拉克斯才是不朽正统) -- Read some then dropped
- Good premise/start, but gets meh starting with the Astral Express. Slapstick mischaracterization of HSR characters. Imbalanced xover.
(FIN) 崩铁：白厄，我名摩拉克斯 (aka 崩铁 钟离，开局获得存户瞥视) -- Read most
- Better written than above. Not canon compliant with full HSR Amphoreus arc. One sided 男频 harem-ish bits get annoying.
(FIN) 我，钟离，在迷雾世界开茶馆 -- finished.
+ Seems to be an xover with 斩神, though the description doesn't say. Very slice of life, nice prose but no real plot in sight. The supernatural elements are all written very vague.
(DISCONT) 火影：帝君为师，游历提瓦特
+ Child!Naruto transmigrates back and forth between original world and Teyvat. Learns how to deal with life and politics from Liyue.
(DISCONT) Fate：开局召唤出岩王帝君
+ OP conceptual god Morax with useless annoying summoner DROPPED
(DISCONT) 从原神开始观影万界
+ Video content features Genshin AQ (thru Natlan), HSR trailblaze missions (stopped mid-Amphoreus), and FGO. Reactions from these worlds plus other random worlds.
(DISCONT) 综英美：旅行者的异世之旅
- GI characters physically travelling to MCUxDCU fusion world. Starts with M!Traveler, Klee, Childe; focus is more on MU/DC side. DROPPED
(DISCONT) 连接原铁绝的聊天群
- Zhongli part of the starter cast and done well. Chat gacha items are too OP. Canon events are revamped for co-op. Lantern Festival event dragged on 150+ chapters while adding HI3 cast. DROPPED due to cast bloat.
(WIP) 柯学的提瓦特
+ Teyvat apocalypse survivors plotting against fate in the Conan-verse over decades. Ensemble cast from both sides, bias to Aether & Conan-verse undercover agents. Fatui not part of black org, instead Wrio and Rosaria are undercover agents.
(WIP) 给柯学世界一点提瓦特人脉王震撼
+ Centered on meta-knowing Player!Lumine & slightly 4th wall breaking Paimon, charged with saving the world. Well written pseudo-slice of life but hasn't deviated much from canon "Fate" yet. Ported over Genshin PCs, given logical backgrounds: NK/Sumeru > Inazuma/Natlan > Fontaine > Liyue barely shows up. But at least refutes bad memes like Zhongli's lack of money.

国运:
(DIS) 国运领主，开局成为摩拉克斯 -- Nice premise, too short
(DIS) 国运原神：蓝星代表是钟离 -- Good start/premise. First challenge scenario dragged on too much; also no audience reaction.
(FIN) 国运禁地：扮演钟离的我尘世闲游 - OK start then skipped to end. Fake cosplay, actual reincarnation/conspiracy, BE ending.
(FIN) 【岩王纪】神州人类观测记录 - Cute start then quickly goes off the rails. But short and complete.

Ensemble 影视体 fics / WIP:
(WIP) 天幕通原神，开局钟离还在藏
- Meandering topics using Zhongli as an central figure/excuse to talk about a lot of hidden history. Careens off the rails with speculation/headcanon.
(WIP) 原神光幕降临，各朝毕惊！
- Simplistic...skipping around.
(WIP) 原神：争取能写到至冬（aka 刷的原神视频怎么让原主看去了) - Dropped ~ch200
- Questionnaire & reward format. Starts pre-game, system covers up thru Natlan. Favoritism towards Fontaine > Sumeru. Uses F!Traveller as excuse to harass loli characters. Zhongli treatment ok with some fanon cliches.
(WIP) 历朝历代观影原神 - DROPPED
- up to middle of Liyue AQ. Hosted by HSR!Aha and features extremely OOC chatroom for emperors.
(WIP) 原神：名场面都被曝光了！
- Dragged on with ID reveal. Dragging on with Fontaine story (ch.210 up to 337)

Ensemble 影视体 fics / Finished & Discontinued
(DEL) 天幕通原神，开局钟离你让我陌生
- Lots of canon inaccuracies, includes a lot of leak theories and fan speculation, squeezes everything into single broadcast session. Deleted from app but seems to be a replacement (rewrite?)
(FIN) 从祭礼之舞开始曝光原神热门人物
+ Starts pre-Fontaine then adds them near end. Competition questionnaire format. Biased towards Inazuma > Liyue. OK depiction of Zhongli's character, no obvious cliches. World plot derail with zombies.
(FIN) 原神：播放刀子短视频，全员泪目 (aka 原神短视频，开局死刑吓哭芙芙)
+ Starts pre-Liyue but lets storyline complete (with some deviation) before blowing Zhongli's cover. Videos cover through Fontaine. Lot of fanvids, but mostly respectful. F!Traveler hits on adult female characters.
(DIS) 从原神开始观影
+ Cuts off middle of Liyue AQ at buying kites. Malfunctioning system broadcasting playthrough with modern viewer commentary.
(DIS) 原神：观影未来
+ Vision holders physically brought into theater. Reactions more serious than humor-based. Discontinued mid-Inazuma arc.
(DIS) 原神天幕：开局播放可莉哒哒哒 aka 原神：开局曝光钟离马甲
- Narrated by unknowing gamer pair. AQ up to Liyue, interrupted by fanvids and then derailed onto Luna version content. Lots of playing on memes/fanon. Actual GI character reactions are sparse.
(DIS) 原神观影：空的旅程
- Initial audience are first gen Archons (many incorrect from canon). Later adds reaction rooms for "present" archons, and citizens. Lots of fanon/inaccuracies. Later arcs are pure copy pasta from canon and little reaction.
(DIS) 原神：魔神观影
- Audience from Archon War era, viewing AQ arc intro PVs (best read alongside vids), much later joined by post-Liyue arc archons. Emphasis on modern power levels, pro-dragon, pro-Fontaine. Extremely annoying dream god.
(DIS) 让历朝历代领略原神风采
- Awkward and longwinded Earth history sections. DROPPED
(DIS) 原神：直播特瓦特，全网都懵了？
- MC transmigrates back and forth between modern world and Teyvat, able to broadcast across worlds, also buying & selling stuff. Does not go into game plot. Handwaves legal/scientific/political issues on Earth side. DROPPED
(DIS) 特瓦特杂货铺：从代肝刀璃月店主
- MC transmigrates back and forth between modern world and Teyvat, doing small business. Does not go into game plot. Handwaves legal/scientific/political issues on Earth side. DROPPED

Other:
(DIS) 钟离捡回璃月的魈鸟是个战损版
+ Waffy start. Jumps the shark starting with SQ2 Azhdaha restoration; breaks SOD for illogical MC torture pr0n. Main story complete before being discontinued.
(WIP) 原神：东大来到特瓦特
+ Interesting premise: AU!China ISOT to start of game timeline Teyvat as a new continent in the east sea. Handwaves issues like missing water source for Yellow/Yangtze rivers, lack of oil, monsters inhabiting the Dark Sea... Will see how narrative balance goes.
(WIP) 网游：什么？你说原神硬壳？！
- Transmigrator plays a VRMMO that is actually inserting people randomly into Teyvat near start of game timeline. Uses MHY plot knowledge to befriend Furina, who later transmigrates into "real world". Obvious waifu fic. DROPPED
原神：剧透未来给本人
- Similar to 观影 style fics, but with a Gary Stu harem-ish protag interacting with cast and stealing Lumine's thunder. Goes off the rails starting with Sumeru. DROPPED
岩王帝君：与此世签订契约 -- Read to ch75
+ ISOT travel to modern setting. Loses focus after Venti & Ei show up. Skipped to end: timey whimey climax/resolution.
原神：从璃月开始，身配六国相印
- Nice poli-socio-economics worldbuilding. But also 男频 harem male protag; canon getting nerfed to build up MC.
岩王帝君：玄神界尘游 -- Dropped. Sequel to 岩王帝君：与此世签订契约. Reads more like (lackluster) original xianxia.
原神：钟离有个聊天群 -- Dropped after ch 128. Cartoony. 男频 harem elements exceeded tolerance.
帝君穿书后，全师门都癫了 -- Dropped. Awkward/retarded characterization of multiple modern(?) transmigrators, plus HSR!Boothill (o_O). No plot in sight.
岩王帝君在异世界也要努力退休 -- Dropped. Same author as above. Some OOC + messed setting.
听闻涂山有个客卿叫摩拉克斯 (aka 涂山帝姬钟离 in app) -- Dropped. Plot forced bonds with xover setting & cast.
见证盘古开天后，退休岩神想摸鱼 -- Dropped. Reads like xianxia original with name transplanted.
天星坠诸界：岩王帝君的次元纪行 -- Dropped. Severe power imbalance and messed up setting background.

Finally completed the Archon Quests up through the end of the Nod-Krai arc this past weekend. *Huzzah!* On reflection, I decided to do a personal ranking of how I liked the main Archon Quest story arcs. First up, the TLDR:

Sumeru > Natlan > Nod-Krai > Fontaine => Liyue => Mondstadt > Inazuma > Abyss Interludes

By Abyss interlude, I am lumping all of the extra acts at the end of each nation's archon quest, centered around Dainsleif and our main character's sibling.

( Details )

I had to make myself play the HSR 3.8 patch the weekend after it came out, which says a lot about how much interest I've lost in the game, lol. I guess the story is...ok.

I did like that it filled in a lot of blanks (*coughretconnedcough*) the awful parts of the original Penacony arc. Especially, it fleshed out the motivations of the antagonists, so that we have more than just Sunday's horrible memetic dove speech. And they managed to make the philosophizing...well, still a bit abstruse, but at least not as much soapboxy anymore.

The sudden insertion of the current banner character into the plot, retroactively, feels a bit awkward and very sales motivated. And I don't really like Dahlia's character all that much. But I have to say at least it wasn't *badly* done, and at least the narrative logic is fine. Personal taste aside, I'll roll with it.

The actual part I didn't like was the shippy parts with Firefly. Because I am obviously not the target demographic for it; it is very obviously geared towards the male fans who want to date the popular waifu character. So, eh, I did end up skipping some of those bits in the end.

Oh yes, also liked the extra bits with Aventurine. And the slight shippy interaction with Dr. Ratio at the very end (tagged "Sweet" dialogue option, lol).

Anyways, with all of that over, I plan to take a hiatus from HSR for now. Will likely still follow news and stuff on reddit and other online sources though. If the story takes a turn for the better, I may consider coming back later. Maybe.


As for the Genshin side, it is still continuing to take up a lot of time investment, despite my best efforts to stay casual, eh. I have finished the main story line up through the Sumeru archon quest so far, which is maybe around half? Though maybe not quite half, considering later archon quests seem to get longer and longer compared to the earlier nations.

There's a ton of side quests that are still in the backlog, plus the interlude arcs, which I plan to try and finish over the Xmas holiday period. Then will see about doing the Fontaine archon quest over the New Years holiday period. Hm... not sure if that's too fast. We'll see.

So far of the 5 star characters I have, 3 are 1.x Liyue characters, and one is a Sumeru character from the standard banner. In other words, all quite "obsolete" in terms of meta-ness. :p I am getting by in the overworld by not doing the ascension quest for world level 7, which really doesn't give too much benefit at the current point since I have all that needs to be unlocked for function. And then my main team being overleveled for the current WL.

As for pulling more "modern" meta characters... I am considering it. The current banner's Natlan characters are supposed to be very great low investment meta characters. But then the next major patch is going to feature the "Archon" of the current Nod Krai arc, to be paired with a new Liyue character for the Chinese New Year. On the third tentacle, I don't really like the design of this "archon", but also not sure if it's worth pulling the Liyue character by herself. Hrm... planning to wait until there are more leaked info about the next update, I guess.

Regarding the story so far... I do have to say I enjoyed the Sumeru arc. It was quite lengthy but also well paced and did not feel like any of it was artificially extended; there just was that much stuff to pack in there. In comparison, the Mondstadt and Liyue stories feel like they are way too short. Understandable for Mondstadt since it's technically the "prologue" arc. But Liyue's story also feels like a prologue, part 2, as well. Inazuma's story was just horribly paced. Of course, it feels like Mondstadt is getting a sorta continuation in the current Nod Krai arc, since there.

Setting design... I totally like Liyue and its extensions (Chasm and Chenyu Vale) best. Totally not biased. :p

Recently, the HSR forums/reddit has been abuzz with rumors that the upcoming entire 4.0 storyline is in danger because it's JP based, and is getting self-censored due to the recent political climate. The fact that announcement of the 3.8 patch infodump (scheduled for tomorrow) also came with the note that drip marketing for 4.0 won't be included, with no dates given for the delay...isn't helping.

Not sure what this means for the game as a whole. Like, we can't exactly hope that the politics side will die down over the course of the 3.8 patch. We also don't know if the original 4.0 story/setting was entirely or partially or only tangentially affected. So, I guess a lot is up in the air and just...wait and see is all I can do.

( HSR rant )

( Genshin update )

Note to self for future time reference...
https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Archon_Quest_Achievements

Hoyo might finally do something with the fact that Star Rail takes place in a sci fi setting! Or this might just be false advertising where the only space opera stuff we're gonna see is gonna be in the trailers... Eh, we'll see...

As we can see from below, there are a lot of familiar names coming to join the party: We seem to have 2 Xianzhou ships arriving, which I am guessing is going to be the Luofu and the Yaoqing. Not sure if we might see a bit of Jing Yuan and Feixiao again in the next patch.

IPC is sending some ships, and also carrying out the evacuation of 5 neighboring planets within 120 hours. Man, that's some pretty sick organizational ability. I mean, unless by evacuation they mean shunting the entire planet/star system away rather than moving just the people there. If that's the case, it's still sick engineering ability. There's a reason why the IPC are top dogs in the HSR cosmos. Hail Preservation!

Several members of the Genius Society have already been involved in the last few patches on Amphoreus. So we only have one more addition to the team this time. But then Screwllum also brings in his entire planet, amounting to what I guess is going to be the largest guns for the fight, I guess.

The Galaxy Rangers are mentioned...and in charge of coordination? Not sure if the Family (Harmony faction) is showing up but here's hoping...

( videos )

On a somewhat different topic. I have mostly finished building the free Dan Heng Permansor Terra I got (I did end up pulling his LC) and have tried him out a bit. No complaints about his sustain ability or animations, though, he doesn't feel to be a *significant* buff over Aventurine, just sayin'.

Still getting used to his model's new height. It just feels kinda awkward to ship him with other guys in mind now, with his new form. And also, because the 3.6 was just so blatant at pushing the MC/March + MC/Dan Heng ships, that it feels like certain design elements are on purpose, just to push that "canon MC ship" over any other non-canon yaoi ships.

Eh. I guess it's also because I haven't really been reading a lot of Dan Heng fics lately. Got accidentally sucked into Genshin fanfics (Zhongli centric, specifically) lately and haven't crawled out of that hole yet. -_-

Addendum: Cyrene's kit is more or less finalized at this point, and the general sentiment on the various leaks forums/threads/etc have been negative. The main complaint seems to be that at E0 her ultimate takes way too long to charge, and her buffs are lame for non-Amphoreus characters. So I am most likely skipping her, and getting Hyacine instead, plus getting Castorice to E2. I should have enough pulls saved up for this.

The new patch came out on Tuesday and I finished the main story mission last night. We finally get the patch dedicated to the new March 7 and Dan Heng banners! Yay!

First of all, to get it out of the way: Yes, the story telling this patch was well done. Top marks continuing on from the last few patches. It was mostly all dialogue and cutscenes, with very little battles or puzzles to interrupt the flow.

Focus very much stayed on our two banner characters. The story didn't sacrifice a lot of screentime for the older Amphoreus characters, even though they did show up in brief cameos. Cyrene, as the next patch's only banner character and the acknowledged dev favorite this whole arc, did get more screentime, but I feel like she didn't overshadow March and Dan Heng in terms of the story.

( March 7 / Evernight )

( Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae )

As for my banner plans. Like said above, I am still dithering about pulling Evernight or later getting Cyrene. The new Dan Heng sp is free, and I am probably going to get his LC. The rest of my saved up pulls is going to wait out for Hyacine, and probably getting Castorice E2.

The Amphoreus arc is predicted to end in the next patch 3.7, which will also need to contain the aftermath and tie up loose ends. Thus, it's not likely going to introduce any further plot twists. Likely we will get a new climax boss fight, and then a bunch of aftermath stuff. After that, 3.8 arc is supposed to go back to Penacony. Then after that, the 4.0 arc will start introducing the new Japanese themed setting. I feel like I am probably not going to pull much in 4.x, so might as well invest more for gameplay aspects in 3.x (hence going for Castorice E2). We'll see.